Switchboard Settings Reference

Switchboard Plugin Settings

Follow the steps below to modify the settings for the plugin.

1. In the main menu of the Unreal Editor, choose Edit > Project Settings to open the Project Settings window.
2. In the Project Settings window, find Switchboard in the Plugins section.

Switchboard Settings

• Settings that are common to all device plugins are at the top of the Settings panel, including the values added during the initial project set up.
• After you add a device, settings for those devices are appended to the settings panel.
• Some general settings are repeated in a device’s settings so you can override the value per device if needed.
• If you override a setting in a specific device, a different background color appears. As long as the override is in place, changing the global setting will not cause a change for this setting in the device.

The following sections describe all the settings that can be modified in the Settings panel.

Project Settings

Multi-User Server Settings

Unreal Device Settings

KiPro Device Settings

Live Link Face

nDisplay Device Settings

For each nDisplay scene node:

Shogun Device Settings

SoundDevices Device Settings

Creating Your Own Device Plugin for Switchboard

Depending on your project’s needs and the devices you are using, you may need to add or extend the device functionality in Switchboard. This section covers creating your own device plugin in Python. With some C++ knowledge, it is possible to extend the listener to accept more types of messages but this is not covered here.

The following instructions step through how to create a new device plugin, SampleDevice, for Switchboard that you can use as a starting point.

1. For the device plugin to be discoverable on load in Switchboard, you must create a folder and Python file with the naming convention <plugin_name>\plugin_<plugin_name>.py in \Engine\Plugins\VirtualProduction\Switchboard\Source\Switchboard\switchboard\devices\.
   • For the SampleDevice plugin create the following file: \Engine\Plugins\VirtualProduction\Switchboard\Source\Switchboard\switchboard\devices\sampledevice\plugin_sampledevice.py.
2. Extend the Deviceclass defined in \Engine\Plugins\VirtualProduction\Switchboard\Source\Switchboard\switchboard\devices\device_base.py in the plugin_sampledevice.py file:
   • Import Device from device_base.py.
   • Create a new class DeviceSampleDevice which inherits from Device.

   • Import LOGGER from switchboard/switchboard_logging.py to report errors.

     from switchboard.devices.device_base import Device from switchboard.switchboard_logging import LOGGER

     class DeviceSampleDevice(Device):` def init(self, name, ip_address, kwargs): super().__init__(name, ip_address, kwargs)

   Verify the file is discoverable by Switchboard. Launch Switchboard and expand the Add Device dropdown menu. SampleDevice appears in the list.

   
3. Adding a SampleDevice to your Switchboard won’t create a widget in the view. To create a SampleDevice widget, extend DeviceWidget in plugin_sampledevice.py:
   • Import DeviceWidget from device_widget_base.py.

   • Create the new class DeviceWidgetSampleDevice which inherits from DeviceWidget.

     from switchboard.devices.device_base import Device from switchboard.devices.device_widget_base import DeviceWidget from switchboard.switchboard_logging import LOGGER

     class DeviceSampleDevice(Device): def init(self, name, ip_address, kwargs): super().__init__(name, ip_address, kwargs)

     class DeviceWidgetSampleDevice(DeviceWidget): def init(self, name, device_hash, ip_address, icons, parent=None): super().init(name, device_hash, ip_address, icons, parent=parent)

   Verify the widget appears in Switchboard. Launch Switchboard and add a SampleDevice. A minimal SampleDevice widget appears in the view.

   
4. Create a custom dialog when a new SampleDevice is added by creating a new class which inherits from AddDeviceDialog and assigning it to the static variable add_device_dialog in the DeviceSampleDevice class:
   • Import AddDeviceDialog from device_widget_base.py.
   • Import Qt modules from PySide2
   • Create a new class AddSampleDeviceDialog which inherits from AddDeviceDialog and set the device_type parameter to “SampleDevice” when calling the base class’s constructor.
   • In the new class’s constructor add a QLineEdit text field to the dialog.

   • Override the add_device_dialog static variable in DeviceSampleDevice with the new class.

     from switchboard.devices.device_base import Device from switchboard.devices.device_widget_base import AddDeviceDialog, DeviceWidget from switchboard.switchboard_logging import LOGGER

     from PySide2 import QtWidgets, QtGui, QtCore

     class AddSampleDeviceDialog(AddDeviceDialog): def init(self, existing_devices, parent=None): super().init(device_type="SampleDevice", existing_devices=existing_devices, parent=parent)

     # Create QTWidgets to add to the form self.additional_text_field = QtWidgets.QLineEdit(self)

     # Append the new options to the QTWidgets.QFormLayout object defined in the parent class self.form_layout.addRow("Additional Text", self.additional_text_field)

     class DeviceSampleDevice(Device): # Override the add device dialog object associated with the device plugin add_device_dialog = AddSampleDeviceDialog

     def init(self, name, ip_address, kwargs): super().__init__(name, ip_address, kwargs)

     class DeviceWidgetSampleDevice(DeviceWidget): def init(self, name, device_hash, ip_address, icons, parent=None): super().init(name, device_hash, ip_address, icons, parent=parent) `

   Verify the new device dialog appears in Switchboard. Launch Switchboard and add a SampleDevice. The additional text field appears in the dialog.

   
5. Devices can also have a widget on the right side of Switchboard, tabbed with other extension dialogs, to share more information. To create this tab, override the classmethod plug_into_ui from the Device base class.
   • Create a new class SampleDeviceTabView which inherits from QtWidgets.QWidget.
   • Create the class member tab_view in DeviceSampleDevice to hold the instance of the widget.

   • Override the classmethod plug_into_ui in DeviceSampleDevice and initialize tab_view with the new class SampleDeviceTabView.

     from switchboard.devices.device_base import Device from switchboard.devices.device_widget_base import AddDeviceDialog, DeviceWidget from switchboard.switchboard_logging import LOGGER

     from PySide2 import QtWidgets, QtGui, QtCore

     class AddSampleDeviceDialog(AddDeviceDialog): def init(self, existing_devices, parent=None): super().init(device_type="SampleDevice", existing_devices=existing_devices, parent=parent)

     # Create QTWidgets to add to the form self.additional_text_field = QtWidgets.QLineEdit(self)

     # Append the new options to the QTWidgets.QFormLayout self.form_layout object defined in the parent class self.form_layout.addRow("Additional Text", self.additional_text_field)

     class DeviceSampleDevice(Device): add_device_dialog = AddSampleDeviceDialog # Override the default dialog for the plugin tab_view = None

     def init(self, name, ip_address, kwargs): super().__init__(name, ip_address, kwargs)

     @classmethod def plug_into_ui(cls, menubar, tabs): ''' Implementation of base class function that allows plugin to inject UI elements. '''

     if not cls.tab_view: cls.tab_view = SampleDeviceTabView(parent=tabs)

     tabs.addTab(cls.tab_view, 'SampleDevice Tab')

     class DeviceWidgetSampleDevice(DeviceWidget): def init(self, name, device_hash, ip_address, icons, parent=None): super().init(name, device_hash, ip_address, icons, parent=parent)

     class SampleDeviceTabView(QtWidgets.QWidget): def init(self, parent): QtWidgets.QWidget.init(self, parent)

   

These steps showed how to create a new device plugin for Switchboard. For an advanced example, see the nDisplay device plugin for Switchboard.